THE same supreme optimism that made Scotland legend Andy Irvine believe try-scoring moves could be launched from under his own posts also leads the iconic full-back to conclude that his beloved British and Irish Lions can upset red-hot favourites New Zealand when they tour there next month.

The All Blacks have won the last two World Cups and are unbeaten at Auckland’s Eden Park, which hosts two of the three Tests, since France defeated them in 1994. They’re currently on a 36-game winning streak there, yet Irvine remains confident after managing the winning Lions squad in Australia in 2013.

“It’s a hell of a challenge, but I just have a sneaking feeling that we have a wee chance of doing something over there,” predicts the 65-year-old, fully four decades on from his own Lions experience in New Zealand in 1977.

“I was looking through some statistics, and while the Lions have a win rate of 74 per cent in Australia, it’s 16 per cent in New Zealand. We’ve won six Tests out of 38, and that shows you how difficult it is to win there.

“The bookmakers will give us no chance whatsoever, but in some ways it’s no bad thing to go out there as underdogs. The big challenge will be how quickly Warren Gatland can determine his top side and get them playing as a team. When I played, you had nine or 10 warm-up games before the First Test, but now you get four or five. The Lions will have minimal time to prepare, which is an absolute tragedy, but it’s a commercial reality these days. Players were free agents in my day, but now they’re the property of their clubs.

“Historically, the Lions have tended to have good backs but struggled against the All Black forwards. Now it’s different because we can probably match them up front, but they have tremendous quality in the backs, especially the players from the Pacific islands – God made those guys differently! Not only are they fantastic physical specimens, they have instinctive skills and everything else too. If you want to watch great rugby, watch New Zealand rugby.”

While there was disappointment that only two Scots were selected in Gatland’s initial 41-man squad, Irvine believes both may have a big part to play, with Stuart Hogg tipped by many to follow his compatriots Irvine, Ken Scotland and Gavin Hastings in the No.15 jersey.

“Stuart has had two fantastic seasons in the Six Nations and I think he’s got a really good chance of a Test place, but Leigh Halfpenny was no mug in Australia four years ago,” warned Irvine.

“Tommy Seymour is a really super winger and a very underestimated player, and it was good to see Greig Laidlaw added to the squad. Other Scots were probably very close, but the problem was the England match and Glasgow versus Saracens. Warren Gatland was watching those two games and he wanted to see how they performed under pressure. Not very well, unfortunately.

“You dream of playing for your country, yet the Lions is a cut above that. You get to play with and against the best and it’s a fantastic experience. I went on three Lions tours and loved every one of them. The Lions trips are under pressure in future, make no mistake, but long may they continue.”

Irvine’s debut tour saw him feature on the wing for the unbeaten 1974 Lions in South Africa, but three years later the absence of JPR Williams allowed the Heriot’s man to star in his favoured full-back position on a three-month, 26-match tour of New Zealand.

“I was pleased to play in all four Tests and all the Saturday games because that’s what you were striving for on tour. The weather wasn’t very good – who can forget that photo of Fran Cotton caked in mud? – and we got a hard time from sections of the New Zealand media, but I loved the country.  I scored five tries against King Country and it was just one of those days when the ball ran my way.” 

Having lost in Wellington and Dunedin but won in Christchurch, the Lions were poised to level the Test series when they led 9-6 going into injury time in Auckland.

“They kicked ahead and got a lucky bounce and Lawrie Knight scored the winning try,” recalls Irvine. “They beat us by one point and that was a huge disappointment. Had we won, we still would only have drawn the series two Tests apiece, but even that would have been a great achievement. Since then, we just haven’t come anywhere close to winning in New Zealand.”